Sahara and Morocco with kids..FANTASTIC!

by WT » April 28th, 2007

I wrote this before going in a thread below and wanted to follow thru because we had a spectacular time in Morocco and it is a wonderful place for kids and the ultimate unschooling adventure.

quote:
We are starting in Fez at Dar Seffarine in a suite for two nights.
http://www.darseffarine.com/index.html

They have a great review on i-escape, but I enjoyed this blog review with more pics:
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Fez/blog-77000.html

I like the exceptional beauty, service and hospitality along with the authenticity ,price and killer terrace view and location.

Then we will go to the desert for 2 days with these people who I am absolutely thrilled with so far:
http://www.nomadsaharabivouacmerzouga.com/

They have been fantastic with information via email.We will stay one night with a special family in the desert ( via camel ride), another night privately in their oasis, and they have set it up so my child will do a little violin concert for some school children in traditional dress. WOW!

Then we are going to eco Kasbah Ellouze for one night near the world heritage site where "Gladiators" etc was shot.
http://www.kasbahellouze.com/Index_en.htm

I booked it mainly to avoid that long ride between Merzouga and Marrakesh, but there are so many lovely things there that I wish I was staying longer.

We picked Riad DE L'ORANGERAIE in Marrakesh for location,beauty, and reputation for service.The indoor pool was a nice touch with a child too.
http://www.riadorangeraie.com/

Then we picked the suite at the eco B&B Lalla Mira in the Medina at Essoauira.

http://base.lallamira.net/Default.aspx?tabId=1225

I wanted to support the eco goals, plus we loooove organic food and the ancient public baths and massages there sound great.It seemed a little different and in a good location.

We will see if any of these work out as nicely as they seem...stay tuned.

When we fly into Madrid we will then stay at this hotel that a savvy Spaniard in the travel biz told me about (it is where he stays with his family!):

http://www.hostal-laplata.com/laplataflash/home_textos.asp

All of the above places worked out well, Riad L'Organgerie was the only disappointment and even that worked out.

The experience in the desert with Allessandra and Les Nomades was beyond magnificent and life changing.My daughters concert for 50 excited Berber kids with the Sahara as a backdrop was something we all will remember forever as was our night in the desert and time with a large Berber nomad family.
http://www.soultravelers3.com/blog/3BC3272B-CFF8-4552-9EFA-28E6C3A1171F.html

The people are warm and wonderful and the country beautiful and exotic. Another high light was Kasbah Ellouze and our Hamman ( closest thing to an ancient Roman bath) and massage together in Essouria in the oldest Hamman there.

Our tour of Fez with the wonderful owner of Dar Seffarine was also enriching and we focused on the endless talented crafts people there.

If I went again, I would drive ourselves as the roads are good.

It is a fantastic location for kids and families where there is adventure, learning and fun where ever you go, but we liked the desert area best.

Marrakech was our least favorite spot, but glad we saw it ,the souks and the famous sunset craziness with snake charmers and all.Fez and all of Morocco is like taking a time machine to a different century.

by WT » April 30th, 2007

I found a few good books for kids about Morocco if any one is interested:

52 days by Camel ,My Sahara adventure

Morocco in Pictures

Morocco enchantment of the world

The storytellers

Market

Ali child of the desert

Ibrahm ( Sales)

by **Mamoo** » November 15th, 2007

WT your shared information and blog are a real inspiration. Thank you for taking the time to share such wonderful information and links. I just registered here, a homeschooling mama of 5 kiddos and we too school with a classical education, core knowledge approach. I just read thru old posts and really hoped you all have decided on a trip to Egypt, my dreams are for all of us to go RTW and teaching with a SOTW curriculum I don't think we could get away with not hitting Egypt.

Awesome links we look forward to reading about your travels for months (years) to come.

by **travelclown** » November 15th, 2007

Wow! What an experience... I would like to see the video of your daughter playing the violin in front of all those kids...

by WT » November 17th, 2007

Thanks again Mamoo! It is really exciting to hear your passion about homeschooling combined with travel!! Isn't it really the best??

Now that we have been doing this for almost 15 months, I just can not believe how easy and cheap this is to do. We also have met just the most wonderful people along the way and through the blog.

Yes, ofcourse, we will go to Egypt..maybe this Feb. ....still have not worked out exactly when to go. We met an amazing homeschool family who live in Egypt when we were in Turkey ( near Ephesus). The dad is Egyptian and the mom is German and they take a slow car tour vacation from Egypt to Germany every summer. So we are looking forward to meeting up with them again on the beach after we tour the sites.

You will not believe how many people will invite you to come visit them!! The people have been as impressive as the sites we see.

I am thrilled to have lots of homeschooled ( and schooled) families following us and I think it makes it fun for kids to know these are real places that a kid can go and where other kids live. There is a teacher that is following us that is going to connect her whole class with Mozart.

Thanks travelclown, it really was a magnificent experience. I will get the video up ( and other wonderful video from many places) as soon as we have time to edit and work on that project.

by WT » June 6th, 2008

We are in Portugal & our "Where in Heaven is Mozart" world tour montage video is featured now and got 40,000 hits in a couple days time! Wow!

We decided to stop here at the nearby beach and upload some more videos that we have been meaning to get up about our world tour.

So we finally have our "Sahara Dream" one up that gives you a real idea about what a fantastic experience this can be for a family. Again we HIGHLY recommend it and the people at Les Nomades that helped us create a special authentic experience and my 6yo's concert for the Berber kids which was a highlight of our world tour.

Catch the dream!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrrAFDt9W_U

Put it on your must do family travel list!!

by **nancy sv** » June 6th, 2008

Wow!! that sounds marvelous! I would love to go to that part of the world someday - it seems like I somehow just keep missing it. Your daughter is such a cutie!!

by **wallop** » June 9th, 2008

This is really interesting. We visiting Morocco pre-kids and loved Fez. I would go so far as to put it in my top three places to visit in the world due to the fact that it's basically a complete mediaeval city, with people still living a largely traditional way of life.

However we were a lot less impressed with Marrakesh because of the amount of hassle we got as tourists/backpackers. We stayed in a nice little Riad, but it was pretty hard work every time we stepped out of the door (one morning we had a guy follow us the entire morning repeatedly asking to be our guide - after a long time we agreed just to shake him off and he took our money and basically scarpered. this wasn't an isolated incident). Essaouira was a similar experience. It was the worst hassle of any country I've ever visited and I've travelled a lot and think I'm pretty laid back about these things normally.

Do you think things have changed in the last ten years, or do you think it was a better experience for you because you were with a child? I would love to go back because I think it is a fascinating country, but our experiences were quite off-putting.

Any one else have views on Morocco?

by **Prisa** » June 18th, 2008

Morocco can be a hard country to travel in. Kids help. Arabs love kids. WE adore them. We will literaly reach out and touch your kids. And dont be concerned. We're not being creepy. Just admiring. But, yes, bring cute kids to Morocco expect them to get pats on the heads from strangers, kisses from wayward moms, and tummy tickles from random fathers.

Now, my word of advice, after living in Marrakech, is to be really seriouslly firm with people. They take advantage of you because they can. Any politeness you use while dealing with these people is a waste of your time. The first suggestion is to not even engage them in any conversation. If they follow you talking pretend you dont understand. If you speak English around them, they speak English, still ignore them. You have no commitment to be kind to a theif.

IF they do not stop bothering you, walk right up to a policeman and let them know. Trust me, by the time the guy sees you heading for the police, he'll take off.

it has gotten better since Morocco has instituted some rather harsh laws for people messing with tourists. But there will still be hassles. Just dont be nice. Dont be polite. The people that you should be polite to you will not approach you for money.

by WT » June 20th, 2008

Fez, the Sahara, the mountains, the area around Ait Ben Haddou were our favorite places and we enjoyed Essouria too and got no hassles to speak of in any of these places.

We did not care that much for Marrakesh and we heard MANY travelers say the same thing. That said, we were glad that we did go and there were some good moments, I just would not spend much time there. We found much more hassles there than any where.

I think one needs to be really careful with food in Morocco and we spent more on lodging there than anywhere we have been. Cheap lodging often means bad food ( getting sick) or bugs.

The bad news is everything is really spread out and none of the taxi's have seatbelts. It has one of the highest death rates from cars. If we did it again, we would rent a car most likely, although we enjoyed the train first class and I hear the buses are okay and cheap.

If you speak French it helps a lot.

I think Fez is absolutely a fantastic city to take kids as the medina is like giving them a trip into the middle ages. We loved all the crafts people that were available.

We found the hamman in Essouria , the closest one can come to an ancient Roman bath.

I never would have gone to the Sahara except for my child's education....and I would have missed so much if I did not go. I would not want to live in Morocco or spend months there as it is a sensory overload kind of place, but worth experiencing as a family. One of our fav places.

Plan it well, watch the food, but DO go and take your kids!!

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Sahara and Morocco with kids..FANTASTIC!

Sahara and Morocco with kids..FANTASTIC!

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